Bothell High’s Dynamic Football Coach — Tom Bainter

Regular readers may have noticed that the blog has been “dark” for the past week. There was a reason for that: Jim and I took our wives for a little vacation down Mexico way; a vacation they deserved after putting up with us and our time away traveling and writing this blog. Jim and his wife are staying on in Puerto Vallarta for another week enjoying the warm sunshine. My wife and I, however, returned to the Washington rain last night and I brought with me this story on Bothell head coach Tom Bainter that Jim penned while in Mexico. We interviewed coach Bainter just prior to leaving so Jim wanted to write this introductory piece while the memory of our visit was still fresh in his mind. We will follow in a few days with the full interview of that meeting. Enjoy.

Two years ago, I asked my son Craig to accompany me to a football game at Bothell High School to watch the Cougars dismantle yet another opponent. I went to the game largely on the recommendation of a friend and coaching associate Bill Ojeda of Mariner High School. Bill told me that I had not seen fan support and pregame tailgating until I had witnessed the celebratory atmosphere at Pop Keeney field on a Friday night. We went, and I found out that Bill’s assessment was correct…. and understated. After what I had witnessed in fan support and football fundamentals at Pop Keeney I was more than impressed. I needed to talk to this guy. A number of Bothell people contacted me and told me that we needed to contact this guy. So I tried repeatedly to arrange an interview. I was unable to do so. However, Dick Kalla my high school cover 2 associate must have done something I overlooked and succeeded easily. Dick set the meeting with coach Tom Bainter, the Bothell High School head coach, just before we both left with our wives for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a respite and to talk high school football.

When we walked into coach Bainter’s classroom (he teaches weight training and health), I was ready for the usual motivational posters, but his room had a different feel to it. When he began to speak, and I heard him use the word “Inclusive” for the first time, I realized that the perfect word to describe his room was “Welcoming”. His students, I thought, must feel that welcome each time they step into his classroom. He seems a combination of a kindly counselor, the Pied Piper, P.T. Barnum (The Greatest Show on Earth), and the most earnest of preachers, the kind of man who Believes in Power of Football to address many of the problems plaguing our young men today. When he speaks, it is with conviction and his eyes flash with passion for his subject. They also reveal sincerity, boundless energy and humility.

The pronouns “I” and “Me” are never used by Coach Bainter. Everything is “Us” and “We.” He also works to bring the Bothell facility into his inclusive circle. One way he does this is by, during Homecoming, have each player on his team approach a staff member: teacher, custodian, cook, administrator and ask him/her to honor the player by wearing his jersey to the game.

Each of his players will play in a game each week. He’s one of the few coaches to play seniors on the Junior Varsity squad. When other coaches tell him that JV’s are exclusively for underclassmen, his answer is that kids turn out for football all week long, and that they should be able to reap the rewards for those grueling practices by playing in a game. He has 140 players on his team, so who would argue with that? His teams have won 4 league titles since 2000 and have been in the State playoffs 10 of the last 11 years. It’s hard to argue with Bothell’s success.

His circle of inclusiveness reaches the Bothell student body by giving them recognition before each game. It reaches the youth leagues which he supports but does not dictate to. The youth leagues in turn, run many of the concession stands which is how these youth teams support themselves. This support from the youth programs and the Jr. High Schools (Bothell is a class 3 High School) is reciprocal. He supports them: They support him.

The Bothell community is an important part of that circle of inclusiveness, but his family seems to be the strongest part of that circle. In fact, when his boys finish their youth league practice, they walk down the hill and watch the Bothell High School varsity, coached by their dad, practice before they all go home. It is a great story, and Tom Bainter is a heck-of-a coach and an even better man. Jim Olsen